After four nights of violent protest against an electoral reform passed in Paris, is calm gradually returning to New Caledonia? The archipelago was in “a calmer situation” this Friday, according to local authorities, with the exception of neighborhoods out of control that the State will try to “retake”.
In a press release published this Friday morning, the High Commission sought to be reassuring. “The state of emergency has made it possible, for the first time since Monday, to return to a calmer and more peaceful situation in greater Nouméa, despite the fires in a school and two businesses,” he said. The night from Thursday to Friday was “marked by the arrival of reinforcements sent” from France, added the same source. The government had announced a few hours earlier the dispatch of a thousand internal security personnel, in addition to the 1,700 members of the police already on site.
The army was also deployed to secure the territory’s ports and airport, now under the state of emergency declared by the government on Wednesday evening. The ban on gatherings, the transport of weapons and the sale of alcohol, as well as the curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. remain in force. The situation on the archipelago “remains very tense, with looting, riots, fires, attacks which are obviously unbearable and unspeakable”, said Gabriel Attal Thursday afternoon (Paris time). The head of government had indicated that “a criminal circular” would be published by the Minister of Justice to “guarantee the heaviest sanctions against rioters and looters”.
Information to remember
⇒ Control of certain districts of Greater Nouméa “is no longer assured”
⇒ A person suspected of a homicide surrendered to the police
⇒ Le Pen open to a new self-determination referendum “in 40 years”
Control of certain neighborhoods “is no longer assured”
Even if the tension has gone down a notch, the control of several districts in New Caledonia “is no longer assured”, recognized this Friday the representative of the State in this French territory in the South Pacific, hoping that reinforcements will allow these areas to be “reconquered” after four nights of tension. “Reinforcements will arrive […] to control the areas which have escaped us in recent days, whose control is no longer assured,” declared the High Commissioner of the Republic, Louis Le Franc, to the press in Nouméa.
Nearly a thousand internal security personnel, notably police officers and gendarmes, arrived on Caillou during the night from Thursday to Friday, adding to the 1,700 members of the police already on site. These reinforcements should make it possible to “reconquer all the spaces in the urban area (of Nouméa) that we have lost and that it is up to us to take back as quickly as possible”, declared Louis Le Franc.
The State representative referred to “three zones”, disadvantaged neighborhoods of Greater Nouméa populated mainly by indigenous people. He designated the districts of Kaméré, Montravel, and “part of the Vallée du Tir”, described as “areas where there are several hundred rioters who are waiting for only one thing, and that is to contact with the police, to maintain their positions” and “their abuses”.
Panot (LFI) protests against the ban on TikTok in New Caledonia
The leader of LFI deputies Mathilde Panot protested this Friday against the “unprecedented in a European democracy” ban on the social network TikTok in New Caledonia. “I do not agree with the” ban on TikTok “because what is generally done in overseas territories is then done in France,” said Mathilde Panot on BFMTV-RMC.
She contested the decision, taken within the framework of the state of emergency by the government which considers that the social network is one of the vectors of communication between the rioters. “We are facing an entire people. We are in a colonial situation and I do not agree with the restrictions on freedoms,” she insisted. “The situation is political, it’s because they broke a civil peace process by going into force in three days, they managed to destroy years and years of consensus,” she insisted.
While the government also justifies this ban on the Chinese social network by fears of interference and disinformation, particularly from Azerbaijan, the MP found it “extremely suspicious to think that Azerbaijan could put 10% of the people kanak in the street”. “I believe that we must stop seeing interference everywhere and deal with the problems politically,” she pleaded.
The Mayor will bring together insurers next week
The Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, will bring together insurers “next week” in order to “guarantee rapid and fair compensation” for the damage caused by the violence in New Caledonia, his office announced this Friday. The amount of economic damage is still being assessed and will be communicated when it is “stabilized and reliable”, according to the same source, relaying Bruno Le Maire’s “support” to elected officials and the economic world of New Caledonia “. The minister’s office did not give a precise date for the planned meeting with insurers.
The risk of food shortages
In Nouméa, food shortages are causing very long queues in front of stores. “In conjunction with the government of New Caledonia, the State is mobilizing to provide support to the population and organize the delivery of essential products,” assured High Commissioner Louis Le Franc this Friday morning. He called for major traffic routes to be cleared.
The authorities are preparing an “air bridge” between France and its archipelago, separated by more than 16,000 km. Nouméa airport remains closed to commercial flights.
Homicide suspect ‘turned himself in’
A person suspected of a homicide during the riots in New Caledonia has surrendered to the police, the High Commissioner of the Republic in New Caledonia, Louis Le Franc, announced this Friday. “There are much more serious cases that have taken place, cases concerning assassinations. So, one perpetrator has surrendered. The others, the search has been launched,” he declared during a briefing. press in Nouméa. The High Commissioner did not provide any additional details, either on the identity of this person, or on the homicide concerned.
Five people have died since the riots began on Monday in this French archipelago in the Pacific Ocean: two men aged 20 and 36, a 17-year-old girl and two gendarmes. The first, aged 22, was shot in the head on Wednesday. The second, aged 45, was the victim of an “accidental shooting” Thursday morning, according to Gérald Darmanin. The Minister of the Interior indicated Wednesday evening from Paris that a person “responsible for two Kanak deaths” had been arrested, without further details.
No videoconferencing with elected officials
The videoconference that Emmanuel Macron had proposed to New Caledonian elected officials on Thursday will not be able to take place, the “different actors not wishing to dialogue with each other for the moment”, announced the Elysée. “The situation on site makes it difficult,” the presidency also noted. Consequently, the Head of State will discuss “directly with elected officials”, separately, she added, without further details. Thursday evening, the Elysée indicated that these discussions should take place this Friday. The videoconference was initially to be held at the end of a new crisis meeting which took place at the Elysée from 11 a.m.
Gabriel Attal will receive in Matignon, with Gérald Darmanin this Friday at 6:30 p.m. Paris time, the parliamentary liaison committees on New Caledonia for an “exchange” on the crisis. Before this meeting, Gabriel Attal will also chair a third interministerial crisis unit at 8 a.m.
Marine Le Pen open to a new self-determination referendum “in 40 years”
Marine Le Pen pleaded Thursday for institutional “pacification” in New Caledonia over the long term, by opening the possibility of locally organizing a new self-determination referendum “in 40 years”, a promise likely, according to her, to relaunch dialogue with the separatists.
“Perhaps we need one more referendum, but it must be in 40 years, so that the State agrees to invest without taking the risk of seeing its investments lost,” explained the three-time National Rally candidate. in the presidential election on France 2.